Gbénonkpo Community Garden, Honvié

Slow Food in Benin

The West African country of Benin is home to around 40 different ethnic groups with very strong traditions. The national economy is based on agriculture—mostly extensive—in which 70% of the active population is engaged. The safeguarding of biodiversity and access to land (problematic due to the lack of ownership rights and land grabbing) are the main challenges facing the Slow Food network in Benin. Slow Food began to gain a foothold in the country in 2004, after the first Terra Madre gathering in Turin. The network has evolved around the school and community food gardens scattered across the country, and has organized exchanges between the convivia, visits, shared planning meetings and the development of a coordinated strategy. The network is now working at a national level to map and promote forgotten varieties of leafy vegetable. In the northern area of Natitingou, known for the cultivation of cotton, tobacco and manioc and the production of gari (manioc flour), the Slow Food convivia have been working since 2015 to create agroecological gardens, seeking out and reproducing forgotten native seeds and cultivating local varieties of taro, white maize, millet, fonio and tiger nut sedge. In other convivia in the south of the country, young farmers have started to organize educational activities for children and training sessions on agroecology and to forge partnerships with local restaurants to develop short supply chains and promote local foods and dishes.